Contemplation
by Effervesent Panda
Summary: Temari catches Shikamaru with his shirt off, which inspires some unknown feelings for the sand shinobi to mull over.


**I, Effervescent Panda, do not own anything in the ninja world of Naruto. If I did there would be a lot more of the Sand Siblings *drools over Gaara* plus a little Temari and Shikamaru love in there too ;)**

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The wind user made her way into the Nara garden looking for the familiar stream that flowed through the sanctuary. Shikamaru's mother had pointed her in the direction of where her son had decided to go find a new place for meditating. _Follow the stream until you see the twin peach trees then turn right. You shouldn't miss him and if he is asleep please give him a shove for me, 'k? _Remembering Yoshino's last words brought a small smile to her face. After meeting the mother Shikamaru complained about almost nonstop, she immanently liked the woman she had heard so many negative things about. They both bonded quickly due to their similar personalities after the first meeting, leading Temari to think of her not just as Shikamaru's mother anymore but as a surrogate mother to herself.

Turning right at the two peach trees, she paused momentarily to take in the view. The Nara family had acres of land spanning across a wide forest teeming mostly with deer, but had other wild life as well. A variety of birds, trees, and an occasional predator could be spotted if one were to look closely at the surroundings. It seemed to be a small haven in comparison to Konohagakure itself, however with the addition of the Akimichi and Yamanaka lands the forest easily was almost a third of the village's size. Not that it meant much; the Village Hidden in the Leaves was an enormous village to start with. The first time the wind kunoichi came to the village she was amazed at the forest that grew around and within the walls, partly because of all the sand dunes that she saw daily. She never really understood how such a big village could seem so tranquil.

Under an old oak tree, she spotted Shikamaru meditating using all his focus to concentrate on the subject troubling him. She saw his hands formed into a circle and open eyes clouded over. Temari knew whatever putting him on edge was something major and it made her slightly nervous. Deciding to give him some more time to contemplate the issue, she stayed standing where she was under the shade of a peach tree. Seconds seemed to slow down making time almost freeze. The chirping of the sparrows slowly started fading away.

Her mind left the world around her, beginning to wander. She needed to make Gaara eat something when she got home as the newly inducted Kazekage would only have a few meals preferring to devote all his time to the people of Sunagakure. It was a good thing Kankuro was there with their younger brother as he would have at least made Gaara try to stop inhaling his work and doing nothing else. Thinking of Kankuro made Temari remember to prank the younger puppet master when she returned home. Before leaving for the Leaf Village, Kankuro thought it would be funny to hide all of her fans around the village. Needless to say, she was not amused but had no time to get back at him for his prank.

All of the sporadic set of thoughts made her train of thought slip far there away from the real world until a thought had her stiffen in her shady spot. It seemed to her Shikamaru had a more promenade six pack than he really should. Ninja training would have given him the fit look, but it just came as a shock to her that his body was kind of making her drool. Over the years she had admired many boys as all girls do at some point, but she really had never thought it would be Shikamaru that would inspire an extremely girlish reaction. Maybe it was because his standard outfit was worn loosely making the leaf ninja look pudgier that he really was. It was time to remind him of the chore they both had been given. If Shikamaru could not solve his problem by now he was just going to have to solve it later.

"Yo, lazy ass. We have work to do." The sharp, weighted thud of her fan hitting the ground brought him out of his daze.

"What a drag."

Glaring, Temari was sorely tempted to hit him over the head. "If you didn't want the job, you shouldn't have signed up for overseeing the chunin exams!"

Upon hearing him mutter something about troublesome women, she let out a sigh of frustration. Tsunade-sama was going to be pissed, but that was not her problem. Let him be late. Now opened brown eyes gazed at the Sand ninja with intensity that had not been noticed before. A little flutter could be felt in her chest area.

"I know but no one else wanted the job so I just took it. Thinking it wouldn't be too much work." He replied while scratching the back of his head.

Keeping her composure in check, the Sand Ninja slammed the base of her fan on the ground again. "Well, I'm **not **making the Lady Hokage any more furious by being late for the sixth time this week. I'll see you in the Hokage's office."

Using her speed, she leapt her way to the meeting place in a short amount of time. Her body just went through the motions. A nod to the guards, hi to Sakura, and a bow for the Hokage was the normal routine that she had fallen into during her stay at the Leaf Village. To other people it would look like she was indifferent, but really on the inside her feelings were now in a mess due to Shikamaru's stare. That look seemed to be forever ingrained in her mind sending shivers down the sand ninja's spine.

Fanning her face with her mini fan, she continued to look uninterested as her partner finally poked his head through the office door. Inwardly flinching at Lady Tsunade's shouting, Temari let out a sigh. She was just going to have to push her weird emotions aside for the moment because as Suna's liaison she had a job to complete.

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_Panda note: Inspired by Big Bang's song Fantastic Baby. When I saw the video all I could think about was how Taeyang looked like Shikamaru in the monk scene and how intense his stare was in that part of the music video. Feel free to point out my mistakes. But reviews are nice :)_


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